I have decided to run some shorter races and try to focus on improving my speed while I am trying to build back up for longer races. It has been a long time since I have raced this distance so wasn't sure what to expect. I thought I would start out around 6:20 pace and see what happen. I did a 2 mile warmup before the race and I wasn't feeling the best. For some reason I have been dragging this week. Got a good start to the race and was able to into a good pace. I felt pretty good the first mile but could tell I was probably a little quick for holding it the whole way. Ran the first mile in 6:21 so was where I wanted to be. The second mile I tired to maintain but just started drifting off of the pace and came through in 6:26. I started to get concerned that I might blow up so I backed off a little the third mile for a 6:30. I really wanted to push the 4th mile but just couldn't find the energy to pick it up and slowed more to a 6:33. The last mile I had a guy in front of me that seemed to be coming back so just focused on trying to catch. I finally caught him with about a 1/4 mile to and had to push it hard to stay in front of him to the finish. That helped me pick it up a little for a 6:31 last mile. Overall I have mixed feelings on the race. I think this is actually a PR for me but I haven't ran this distance much so not really a big deal. I thought going I might be in better shape than I ran but I have to look at it as a building process. I am still building back up from not running much the last couple of years plus my mileage is still not very high and I can tell that I don't have the strength to hold the pace. This definitely lets me know where I am and is something to build on. | 